Fixed in the City: The Premises and Particularities of Repair in London and Amsterdam

Description

The paper explores the potential of integrating circular economy practices into urban areas to promote sustainable urban development. The availability of affordable and accessible repair services as part of the everyday environment of 21st-century cities is an under-explored topic. Drawing from fieldwork and spatial analysis of repair activities in London and Amsterdam, the research focuses on how to create space in cities for circular economy practices. The study utilizes geo-data to examine three aspects of repair activities in case study areas in London and Amsterdam: first, the type of activities and their scale; second, the spatial characteristics of the different activity types; and third, the reach of people having access to such repair facilities. We complement the results of this functional-spatial analysis with related policies of both cities to understand the enabling or disabling nature of the institutional context.
The paper concludes with implications of current urban planning policies on the viability of expanding or upscaling repair activities in dense urban areas, which would mean fewer people buying new things. The paper aims to shed light on the complex interplay between repair, circular economy practices, and urban planning policies. Offering a detailed analysis of the current state contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable urban development.

Period	12 Jun 2024
Event title	2024 RSA Annual Conference: Global Challenges, Regional Collaboration and the Role of Places
Event type	Conference
Location	Florence, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International